Teen, ACLU sue police over cop-filming arrest

The teenager was detained for several hours last year after taking video of police on a public bus

New Jersey Star-Ledger

NEW JERSEY — The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the Civil Rights and Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Seton Hall Law School today announced a lawsuit filed against the Newark Police Department on behalf of a Newark teenager who was detained for several hours last year after taking video of police on a public bus.

Khaliah Fitchette, then a 16-year-old honors student and junior class president at University High School in Newark, was riding home from school on March 22, 2010, when she used her cell phone to take video of a police investigation of a man who had fallen down on the bus.

According to Fitchette, when she refused to stop taking video, the officers grabbed her off the bus, deleted the video, handcuffed her, refused to call her mother, and attempted to charge her with obstruction of justice. The lawsuit alleges the officers violated Fitchette's First and Fourth Amendment rights.

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